Why Syracuse Will Win

[SWC75]

- It’s the tortoise vs. the hare and we are definitely the hare: We are rushing for 146 yards per game, (92nd in the country) and passing for 360 yards, (10th) for a total of 506 yards per game, (23rd). Connecticut is rushing for 138 yards per game, (98th). That’s less than we are rushing for – and they are supposed to grind us up with their running game? They are passing for 193 yards per game (96th) for a total of 331 (109). Sounds like some of our old teams- the bad ones.

- It’s all about efficiency. How can you gain 549 yards and score only 20 points. It took three turnovers, three failed 4th down attempts and 10 penalties to do that. If we can cut down on the mistakes, we should be able to gain more yards and score points than Connecticut is capable of scoring.

- And I think we’’ll get better as the season progresses. We’ve just put our toes in the water with this offense. It’s not going to go downhill from here: it’s going to take off.

- Connecticut has forced two turnovers in three games. They are minus 3 in turnover margin, just as we are (98th in the country). They aren’t going to win the game on turnovers.

- If there’s a game winning field goal, it’s as likely to come off the foot of Cole Murphy as Bobby Puyol, who has already had a season’s worth of game winners.

- I remember my comments after the Colgate game: we did an excellent job of keeping everything in front of us, closing on plays and surrounding the guy with the ball. We also did some excellent tackling with the “hawk” method. That fell apart against Louisville and USF but a lot of that was the talent they put on the field. Connecticut is much more like Colgate in their offensive approach and we may been a big comeback by the defense in this one. I think they will get better as the season progresses, too.As we get better our opponents will look worse.

- We’ve played much better opposition than UConn has. Colgate is, if anything, better than Maine and we beat Colgate far worse than they beat Maine. Navy’s pretty good but probably not as good as South Florida and nothing like Louisville. Virginia is surely much worse. They might actually be 0-3 vs. our schedule. We’d surely be at least 2-1 - and a better 2-1 - against theirs.

- We’ve got to start winning and the players know it. That can add pressure or it can bring out the best in players. It’s going to bring out the best in our guys.

- Besides – their coach is a “meathead” of the sort we didn’t want to be coached by anymore because what Dino Babers does is better. Calling their last time out with 17 seconds left after an out of bounds play and the ball on the 1 yard line is the exact sort of thing we’ve seen here for years. Now the other team is going to do things like that for us.

1-2 with 9+ to go!

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!!

 

[CanadianSU]

 

[SWC75]

 

[orangehomer]

If we can give Dungey time, I think he can pass against this defense which is designed to stop the run and Maine was able to hit pass plays over. I don't actually care if we can run the ball, as long as we can stop it, and the Yukon RB's are pretty uninspiring. they are only going to be in the 30k range attendance-wise which is not the most intimidating venue the players have seen, so it might be an ok first road trip. I think babers is a better coach than diaco, it just will be hard to tell for a guy that has been on the job for less than a year versus a guy that is in year 3. some people feel we need to win this, I am close to that but cant quite get there because of all the changes. if we lose the return game, I would be despondent. I'm not so sure that I could that upset over this one on way or the other.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

<sigh> It's UConn. If it weren't (another) rebuilding ear we'd be talking about Nitre Dame already

 

[Deuga]

Great points. UConn's only TD against UVa came on a drive that featured two 3rd down UVa penalties. Both penalties saved the drive. UVa will improve under Mendenhall, but it was their mistakes that opened the door for UConn to win. UConn didn't win that game, UVa lost it.

At the beginning of the week I felt that Uconn deserved to be a 7 point favorite against us. However, I've changed my mind after getting to know UConn better. I feel like if we can limit the mistakes, this game is ours to win. Right now we're a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type of team with spectacular runs and catastrophic scoring sprees against us. Despite the injuries, I just feel like one of these games the Orange are going to break it open. Yes, I know HCDB says to be patient because it'll probably be next year before we see it. But we've seen glimpses of it, so I'd much rather see that breakout happen right now.